A few years ago I posted here about finally meeting my birth father, some 50 years after the fact. He's a yachtsman who wrote a book and made a film about his solo round-the-world voyage in 82-3. Both are worth seeking out, but the book has just been translated in english (he's a Quebecois francophone), and can be found here: 'Jean-du-Sud & the Magick Byrd' by Yves Gélinas. If you'd rather hear it as a podcast, narrated by the author, it's available here: https://www.59-north.com/onthewindpodca ... ud-preview. I haven't tried either link, and neither has he, so tell me if they don't work. I'm one of the folks who proofed the manuscript for translation errors, so if I missed any, don't tell me.

When I watched his film for the first* time, some 5 years ago, I was excited to see a scene in which he, alone on his yacht, played a tune on a bamboo simple system flute. This would have been more than a decade before I began fluting, and 30 years before I discovered who he was and got in contact.

*The ironic thing is that I can recall watching the first half of his film in my early teens as a young sea scout, long before I knew I was related. It had been broadcast in Canada on television. My memory says that we watched it on 16mm film, but it's as likely that someone recorded it to VHS.

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And now there was no doubt that the trees were really moving - moving in and out through one another as if in a complicated country dance. ('And I suppose,' thought Lucy, 'when trees dance, it must be a very, very country dance indeed.')

C.S. Lewis

Thank you Sim0n. A tale worth hearing. I listened to the first chapter and find the man stands beside Joshua Slocum and Francis Chichester!
Very much his own man, but a brother even so. Jean de Sud seems a worthy kin-ship to Spray and Gypsy Moth IV.

Bob

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Not everything you can count, counts. And not everything that counts, can be counted

The Expert's Mind has few possibilities.
The Beginner's mind has endless possibilities.
Shunryu Suzuki, Roshi

Wow, that is so cool, Simon!

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Charlie
Whorfin Woods
One cat short of crazy.

Here`s a clip from the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG0elwG3IFo

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And now there was no doubt that the trees were really moving - moving in and out through one another as if in a complicated country dance. ('And I suppose,' thought Lucy, 'when trees dance, it must be a very, very country dance indeed.')

C.S. Lewis

Thats a great story Simon!
My dad was quite musical, and that explains my inherent musicality and obsession with instruments (he had loads in his bungalow)
Unfortunately he and my mom were estranged way back when I was little and I grew up not knowing him. When I did try to get to know him it became obvious that he was musicality gifted but also that he was a real mean SOB, who refused to teach me the fundamentals of music and would scold anyone who went near his instruments.

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You can play beautiful music on an ugly flute
My musical endeavours on my blog